Point 1Sanctification is Christ's work, not our striving
Everybody turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 6. I think it's fitting for us this morning to go ahead and read the Scripture that we're supposed to be teaching on today, because that's my assignment. But I want to do this today: although I'm going to read this Scripture today, I'm going to maybe back up and, I would like to back up today and reiterate some things. And then I would like you to go home this week, and although you're supposed to be moving on to another verse, I need you to rethink about this again in context, in the context of what I said today, because I think this Scripture is lost on us a little bit. The way that I feel like I can make that judgment is through private conversations with people, through small group conversations, through leadership conversations. We have a tendency to turn to works. We have a tendency to turn to self-sufficiency. It is amazing, when it comes to justification, we all embrace the idea, and I think pretty universally we embrace the idea, that justification is the work of God, that no man can boast. For the most part, there's something in our language, some things in our language, that kind of tell that we maybe don't even get justification fully right, because whenever we read the Bible, we forget that this is his story. We don't preface every bit of scriptural reading we do or devotion time reminding ourselves that this is his story.
We pick it up with this in mind, and maybe we don't do this intentionally, we think it's our story, and the way we then approach his word, whether in devotional life, whether in conversation, the way we approach it, that attitude that it's our story, affects how we then interpret it. So then we get, I mean, we can listen in: the first ten verses of Romans 6 is basically telling you about the work that has been accomplished through Christ Jesus, us being united in his death and in his resurrection, our sin being atoned for by his blood, by his righteous living. He has set us free from the chains of sin, he has delivered us from the dominion of sin, he has allowed us to not have to live lives where sin reigns in our lives. And the writer, the Paul, the writer of this book of Romans, is saying Christ did it, Christ did it, Christ did it. Christ set you free. This is Christ's work. This isn't about what you do, this is about what he's done. Yet we make a turn here in verses 11 through 14, and the Apostle Paul begins to talk about sanctification, this right living here in the world in which we live. And all of a sudden, although Paul has declared what Christ has accomplished, we then, in this moment, as we read this, turn to self-sufficiency, to works, to following steps, to knowing the steps and doing the steps.
But there's a phrase that many of you have repeated and maybe know today: we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved.
These are three hopes we have, right? And there are three hopes we have here. Like I mentioned last week, here's another way to say that same phrase.
Here is another way to say that same phrase: we've been saved, are being saved. Another way is forensic hope, eschatological hope, temporal hope.
We talked about forensic and eschatological hope last week, but these are the hopes we have in salvation, which are not all here.
How many of you know that one day we will have a new body? That is a hope not yet fulfilled, but a promise that it will be. And so as Paul talks through here, and we said this a few months back, we have to be able to understand which hope we're referring to, and then apply that into the appropriate place. Ladies and gentlemen, this morning you are not merely justified by Christ, but you are sanctified by and through Christ.
This is not a work that any man may boast of. Everything from the beginning to the end is Christ's work. This is his story.
So now with that in mind, and you're still going to struggle with this, because I hear it in our language, honestly, it's hard to undo bad theological language, you know, it just is tough. Let's go ahead and read our assignment today, Romans 6:11–14, and then I'm going to back up, because I don't want you to get this wrong, and it's important that you don't get this wrong. All right, here's our assignment today. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Notice here that the considering doesn't make it so. It is so. So let's consider it properly: your consideration, your thinking, your meditation, your focus on Christ does not make you his. You are his. So dwell on these things.
Are you with me? Verse 11, "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive"; I already read that. Verse 12, "Let not sin therefore"; therefore, since he's already made it, and you're commanded to consider what he's already made you, then, therefore, because of what Christ has accomplished, therefore, since he's done the work, since he set you free from sin, that's all the first verses, one through ten, since he's delivered you, since it's no longer sin that reigns, since now righteousness reigns in you, since he elected and predestined you for holiness, since all of those things, therefore: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you," period. For those who are in Christ, don't let this, don't miss this: sin will have no dominion over you, period. Actually it's a comma, but in my mind, period there. But then he goes on, because it's actually a comma, and it says, "since you are not under law but under grace." I love that.
I love that. Oh, that's the wrong thing I'm gonna do. I'm gonna look at this real quick. I would say this probably, I thought I wrote it down, but I evidently didn't. Since sin doesn't have dominion over you, don't let sin have dominion over you.
That's how I would paraphrase this thing. Since God has dealt with sin entirely, don't let sin rule in your life. Notice what comes first: since God, don't let, not don't let, then God. God's already dealt with sin, so don't let sin reign.
He's already done it, so don't. It's kind of a weird statement, right? So I want to unpack this, and I want to use a couple verses that I think are fitting. Now this is going to seem strange, because I'm jumping ahead instead of jumping backwards to support a case here that I need for us to make. Now just so you know, yes, I am hitting pause on Romans 6:11–14, and I want to set up precedent of what we have to consider when we study this verse.
So instead of breaking this verse down word by word, section by section, verse by verse, I want to go back, that we may have the tools necessary to actually read
Point 2Moralism cannot please God; faith can
This the way the Apostle Paul wrote it. All right, Romans 8:5–8. Turn your Bibles there. I'm going to give you a moment to get there. If you're already at chapter 6, it's a flip of a page. So I think, let me check and make sure it's a flip of a page. Romans 8:5–8 says this: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." This is not a command that if you set your minds on this thing, then this is what will happen. That's not what it is. It is not an if you do this, then you do this. It is a descriptive sentence clarifying two types of people. Two types of people, actually, that were talked about in Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3, right? We know that it was Gentiles that were depraved, Jews that had no hope, and all people who had no hope, and those people set their minds on the things of the flesh. Then we make a turn in chapter 4 and chapter 5 and in chapter 6, right, chapter 4 and 5 mainly, we take a turn to what God does for those who are in Christ Jesus. So there are two types of people. Chapters 1 through 3, those who set their minds on the flesh, those who are depraved, and those who are in faith, have faith. God gives faith, that no man can boast, it's a gift of God, that no man can boast, it's a gift. Those that have faith set their minds on the things of the Spirit, not on the flesh anymore. It is a declarative statement, the difference between a lost person and a believer.
It is not a step to take that you can. Are you with me? It's important that we understand how to read Romans, because if you get this wrong, you get every verse wrong. You get every verse wrong. Verse 6: "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." That's why it's not a step. It can't.
If you're lost and depraved, you can't please God. You can't, you won't, you can't. You can't will yourself to do it, you can't decide yourself to do it, you can't. You're lost. "The flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law." It does not submit; "indeed, it cannot." It says in verse 7 it cannot do it. Verse 8: "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." It's impossible.
That's why you need faith, which God gifts. That's important. That's important. Now, the Bible says, in other words, if you are in Adam (we talked a few weeks ago about those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ, we talked about the type of headship Adam is and the type of headship Christ is), the Bible says if you're in Adam, it is impossible for you to please God. In other words, there's nothing that you can do that is righteous.
This is why, and listen to me today, it is such a travesty to preach moralism and not the gospel.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:30
And we do this, oh, I've done this, but it is not the gospel. You have a man, for instance, lost in sin, wrestling with sin, overcome by sin, who cannot please God. It says in the Bible that he's in the first Adam, he's not in Christ, and there's nothing he can do to please God. But if you set him in a church and you give him five ways to have a happy life, ten ways to reduce stress in your life, six ways to be a better husband or a better wife, so that he then goes and attempts in the flesh to do which the Bible says is impossible to do, and he feels better about himself, he does, so he feels better about himself on an express train to hell. It's dangerous to preach moralism over the gospel, and I'm afraid in churches today across the world we have people who are happy for what they've done in the flesh but already have a ticket to hell and will go there thinking they're going to heaven. But that's not the gospel. Striving in the flesh doesn't save you. All of you should be in agreement with that. It does not.
Striving does not save. Christ saves.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:22
So you have a choice today: which do you hope to be saved by? And you should evaluate your life, because you can see which you hope to be saved by, because we somehow or another got the idea in our head that all God is interested in is us following the right steps. No, that is not correct. If you have not been born again, it's impossible to please God. That's what Romans is saying.
Nothing you do is pleasing to him.
Listen, on your best day, everything you do deserves hell.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:12
You're like, well, I beg to differ, I've had some really good days. No, it's not good enough. It will never be good enough.
That's why we have been given Christ.
He's the hope of your salvation, not your moral uprightness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:37
That doesn't save. It is just as true, however, with that in mind, victory over sin, and this is where Paul makes a turn, talks about what Christ has accomplished, it makes a turn and he says victory over sin is inevitable for those who are in Christ.
Now be careful here, because the last thing we want to do is to acquiesce to the idea that justification happens through Christ and by Christ and not then understand that sanctification, or victory over sin, happens through Christ and by Christ, because it's all his work.
It's all his work. I want to back up, because we're really dealing with 11 through 14 today, but I want to back up to what we did before this, because this was all meant to be read in one reading. So as we break it up, we tend to forget the first part of the chapter. And the first part of the chapter, okay, so the part we're reading now, later in the chapter, is dependent on the first part of the chapter for interpretation, right? You've got to understand. So let's back up. Romans 6:5–11: "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." This is a promise for those who are in Christ. Dead people don't stay dead. If we're united in a death like his, we're resurrected in a resurrection like his. "We know that our old self," listen to this is past tense, "was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin." This is what has happened for those who are in Christ. It's already happened. It's accomplished. "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives to God." That's almost like a rap there, right? "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Don't listen to all this, get to the last verse and go effort, because what we tend to do is take verse 11 and go effort, but we don't understand that verse 11 is what happens because of what Christ has already accomplished. So you consider; remember, consider doesn't do it. Considering doesn't do it.
Considering is considering what everything that God has already done. He's already done it. So consider yourself dead to sin.
Listen, considering doesn't make you dead to sin. Christ makes you dead to sin, and the faith given from God, for faith in Christ, makes you dead to sin.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:59
It's not you that does the work. Considering doesn't do it.
"So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." There is the truth and the reality about us that Paul is communicating. He is communicating this earlier also in verses 1 through 4. So let's back up and let's read those, because even to understand the verses I just read, 5 through 11, you have to understand verses 1 through 4 in chapter 6. So back up again and see how much more clarification it brings for us. Verse 1: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we..." In other words, here it is: should we continue in sin? And then Paul goes, you can't. Stupid question. Take your stupid questions and put them in a box, like that suggestion box that no one's going to read, but literally just take it out and throw it in the trash can. We don't care about your opinion, because you can't. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." In other words, I would summarize it this way: it is inevitable that those united to Christ will have victory over sin.
Another way to say it is, because you're in Christ, you will have victory over sin, period. It's a promise.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:50
It's not a step.
It's a promise. It's been accomplished. It's not "will be accomplished," it's been accomplished. First John 3:4–9 echoes the Apostle Paul, and he says it this way: "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." Right? You know that, right? "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you." Let no pastor, let no church, let no friend, let no Bible study convince you that whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. But whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning." Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God," no one, no, not one, zero percent, "no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God."
In other words, it's inevitable that those united to Christ will have victory over sin. And here, at this place, this kind of bold statement makes believers uncomfortable. Well, I should say, rather, it makes people uncomfortable.
And I don't mean it makes us uncomfortable because we don't understand what it means. You might be saying, wait a minute, is Paul saying here that we should live sinless lives? No, he's not saying that. He is saying you will not habitually practice sin over and over again with disregard to Christ and the cross. You will not do it. You will not celebrate your sin. Is Liz back there in the back today? Do you have that Google image which I forgot to send you? It was from Reverb. Do you have that? I can wait for it. Do you want me to talk about some other stuff and then... Okay, girl, she's gonna put this up there. I think this is interesting, because you won't habitually practice sin and you definitely won't celebrate sin, but it's amazing how many people profess Christ and celebrate sin. How many people will say "I love Christ, but..." We actually just did; we didn't even do the "but" part. If you want to, go on Google and say "I love Jesus but,"
Just look at the recommended list. It'll blow your mind. But let's just say "I love Jesus," and see what comes up in the SEO. "I love Jesus," and then it's recommended: "I love Jesus," "I love Jesus pfp." I don't even know what that means. "I love Jesus but I cuss a little."
It is amazing how we celebrate Jesus, and out of the same mouth that we give him praise we give him cursing, and we're okay with it. But the Bible says if you're his, you won't be okay with it. It doesn't make it as a suggestion. It doesn't say some people will be okay with it and some won't. It says you won't, because you're a new kind. And then it says "I love Jesus wallpaper." It's weird. "I love Jesus shirt." And then this one: "I love Jesus but I drink a little." Probably it isn't "I love Jesus, I drink a little." Person, I would say that is saying "I drink a little," but they really mean "I drink a lot," because they're glorifying something along with Jesus. You cannot serve God and man. You cannot have two masters. You will either have him or you won't.
Are you with me today? It's period. There's a period there, and it makes us uncomfortable, this extreme language that Paul is using.
It is so black and white, where in a world of gray we get uncomfortable with this kind of language. But even though we know that Paul is not talking about sinlessness in your life, that we will still, oopsie daisy, it still makes us uncomfortable. One of the reasons it makes us uncomfortable is this little fact, and you can write this down: we've heard the gospel the wrong way for so long. And the gospel the wrong way is this: you are the one who did the work.
And because that has been drilled in our mind, phrases in chapter 6 in Romans make us uncomfortable. I've actually sat with people this week who say things like this, and all of these were used this week in conversations, so if you said it, don't take it personal, because these are things I'm working through and have worked through, but let's just talk about it. All right, I, like, listen, it's not personal, so please do not get all prickly with me.
But this is important. I sat with people this week who have said this: God does 99 percent of the work, but we do the one percent that is the deciding factor regarding salvation. Guys, that's dangerous. You're like, and I know that, I know, because I have good friends, and honestly there are theologians who hold this position. And as a matter of fact, if you just want to know, if you're the person who said that and you're here this morning, let me go ahead and tell you where that phrase came from. That came from Billy Graham. Do I have a problem with Billy Graham? No, I love and respect Billy Graham,
Point 3God saves; we do not cast the deciding vote
But guys, you don't do one percent of the work. You don't do it. And honestly, that was Billy Graham's favorite line.
It was his favorite line. Let's go to another theologian that we love and respect and actually quote probably more than you even realize, you quote in conversation, and I've heard this used this week. It's Moody's favorite line, and it was used on a tract that he printed and gave out as he evangelized different cities for God's glory, and here's what the tract would say. On the front it would have God, Satan, and then you. And here's what the phrase was in the opening of the tract: God has cast his vote, Satan has cast his vote, and now it's time for you to cast the deciding vote.
This is the way we do altar calls, and that's how we understand salvation, and that is nowhere in the study of Romans. Here it is: it's not in there. It is nowhere in there. It's not in there.
Are you with me today? You know what it is? You know what it comes from? It comes from a people who like to be in control of everything, who are trying to interpret a book of the Bible where they are in control of nothing, and create a theology that transforms the truth into a relative truth for them so they can be comfortable with this thing.
God is sovereign. He's King of kings and Lord of lords. He is not elected and he doesn't need your opinion.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:43
He does what he pleases, and he saves whom he wills. Are you with me today? That's the language. The language is not confusing, but we have control problems, and so when we talk about salvation we have to give ourselves some role in this thing. Listen, God, listen, God did not ask for Mary's permission to impregnate her with the Son of God. The Bible actually said he overshadowed her. You want to know what the exact translation of that is? He took her by force. There are people who are working in a field, working in their father's field, and God came, minding their own business, if you will, doing whatever, not causing any trouble, not being difficult, being faithful in the field, and God took them. Why? Because he's God, and he does what he pleases. He does not ask for your vote, and he, listen, he has not brought you onto his team to provide counsel before he makes decisions. He's all wise. He don't need our counsel.
Are you serious? You think he needs your opinion? We actually do, we think he needs our opinion. We really do.
He doesn't. And listen, since we think we cast the deciding vote, or I do the deciding work, or I choose to be his slave, or I choose to be his servant, or I choose to make him my Lord, or I choose to make him my God, or I choose to be saved, then naturally we understand sanctification this way. So as we make the turn in verses 11 through 14 in chapter 6 and it begins to talk about sanctification, because we get to see justification this way, we think it's all about what we do in the sanctification part. Interestingly enough, pause, break here, so let's talk some theology here. I, i'm from a Wesleyan-Arminian background, right? Part of what they would say all the time, you would hear it at every pastor's retreat, you would hear it in every small group, you would hear it in Bible college, they would say things like, we have the corner market on holiness. They would say things like, they would use terms like entirely sanctified, by the way, because you will never be without sin. What? Okay, because you will never be without sin.
Because you will never be without sin. I'm totally confused what I'm saying. Hold on. Huh. Because they believe you will be entirely sanctified, but the Bible promises us that we will never be completely without sin. We will still make mistakes. We won't be ruled, and it won't reign over us, but we will still make mistakes.
But they will talk about entire sanctification, and then listen what they'll call it. That's what we'll call it, and this is not, I have great heart for the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, but they will call it a second work of grace. If it's grace, why so much, why is so much effort required to be sanctified? And it is amazing, because we will talk about second works of grace, but then we will tell people, if you don't do these steps, you can lose your sanctification. This is a theological position. Hold on, I gotta just pause for a second.
But God does the work. God has made sanctification available to you. But there are some who believe, but I have to go learn the steps and work the steps to be sanctified. That's not what happened. That's not what the Bible is saying. It's saying he accomplished it and he will continue to accomplish it in your life. That's what it's saying, and it's very clear, guys. It's not confusing. It makes us uncomfortable because we don't understand what the Bible is saying. As a matter of fact, now I take that back. We understand it. We don't like it, because we'd rather be in control. That's the problem. And we've been in this idea or this mindset so long, when people talk about victory over sin, and by the way, in case you're wondering why I'm talking about this and going back and trying to get clarification on this, it's happening in all of our small groups, because we're so inundated with you working. Because we've been in it so long, when people talk about victory over sin, there's a little alarm that goes off in the back of our mind, that alarm that goes off and says, don't say that, because people will start believing in that whole once-saved-always-saved thing and they'll stop striving for righteousness. Why do we want people to strive for something that's done by grace? Why? Explain that to me.
They say things like, oh, that's dangerous to say that God does it, because people won't strive to live a righteous life. You only worry about that if you believe that sanctification is a result of people striving for righteousness, and that's a problem, because that is not in the Bible. I don't believe that. Your sanctification is not a result of what you strive for. Paul is not confusing here. Paul is making clear that your sanctification is a result of what Christ has done, and it is he that applies it to your life. Hebrews 12:2 says this: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." Why?
Because he is the author, he is the one who begins, in other words, "and perfecter of our faith."
He begins your faith and he perfects it through sanctification, but all of it is salvation, and it is he that does the work. It is not you. He begins it and he finishes it. Philippians 1:6: "And I am sure of this."
I know you might be sure of something else, but you're wrong, because his sureness, and what he is sure of, is more important than what you're sure of. Why? Because God ordained what he is saying here to be in the Bible, not what you were saying. God doesn't care about what you were saying. This is his word, and the person writing this part is saying, "I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
That is, been saved, is being saved, will be saved. I mean, has been saved, is being saved, will be saved. He does it all: forensic hope, eschatological hope, and temporal hope. It's all of it. By his stripes we are saved, not by our striving. Your justification and sanctification is a result of what God has done and applied to your life. My desire here, listen to me today, tune in, my desire here today is not to leave you, not that you would leave here worrying about working steps.
That's not
My worry. My worry is that you will leave here forgetting the source of your righteousness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:41
That's my worry.
Quite honestly, that's my worry for every small group that meets every week, and I think it's a legitimate worry: the person and work of Jesus Christ.
My hope is that you would keep him at the forefront of your mind, because that's your only hope of victory over sin. Listen, victory over sin is guaranteed by the work of Christ applied to believers. Notice the difference here: it's the work of Christ, not the work of Christ and the work of Brook. It's the work that Christ accomplished then applied to believers. It's his work, that no man can boast. If you get that wrong, that it's his work applied to believers, then you'll start trying to work the steps, because you don't understand the gospel, and if you don't understand the gospel, then how can you respond to the gospel?
So it might be that you think you're saved because you've responded to a false gospel, thinking it's the right gospel, but there are people who get to heaven who didn't hear the right gospel, didn't believe the right gospel, and God says, I don't know you. See, if we get the gospel wrong, we get it all wrong.
Victory over sin is a guaranteed work by Christ applied to believers. Last week we talked about the hope we have in Christ, and I've talked about it several times, forensic hope, eschatological hope. I'm going to stop here with the eschatological hope. Here's what we said it was: there is a time coming where I will be free from the very presence of sin. How many of you know that you're not free from the very presence of sin yet? You're free from sin reigning in your life, but you're not free from sin happening around your life. We'll be free from the very presence of sin. This is the hope we look forward to, something we do not hold, and I want to make sure that we understand, and that we do not hold, what is referred to in certain circles as overrealized eschatology, where we bring into the present now what is only meant for eternity.
People do this with healing, people do this with sin, people do this with all sorts of things. We say, hey, I have this now, I have possession of this now, I have authority now, I have all of these things now. There are some of those things you don't have now, but you hope for, because you will one day. He promises you will have them. Paul is not teaching that we will come to a place that we are entirely sanctified before we get to heaven. He's not promising that.
This is what is referred to as overrealized eschatology. That is what happens when we take what is meant for the future and bring it into the present and to the present. But what we do have is a hope that I will one day be set free from the presence of sin. That's good news.
Why, though? Why? Look at Romans 6:5: "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." Now, stay with me, please. I know this is a little bit of teaching, please don't, don't drift off. This is important right here. This is where it gets interesting. If someone would have asked you before coming in here today, on what do you base your hope for resurrection as a believer, what would have been your answer? Think about it for a second. Would you have said it is based on Christ and his finished work? I hope not, because that's wrong.
Christ and his finished work got him a resurrection. Stay with me.
It got him a resurrection. How do you know it's going to give you one? Well, because I believe in Christ and his resurrection. That's how it's going to get me a resurrection, because I believe in Christ and the resurrection. So does the devil. Are you with me today? This is important. Don't lose what's happening in Romans here. Well, if I just believe in him, if I just believe in Jesus and I just put my faith in Jesus, if I just believe in Jesus and I believe that he died for me and that he resurrected, then I'll be saved. Well, the devil ain't saved. The devil is in, the devil believes. The devil believed.
Matter of fact, he was there at his death and resurrection. You weren't even there. He was there, and he believes. But guess what, he don't get a resurrection. You know what he has hope for all eternity? Hell. That's what he has hope for. That's it.
That's his hope. Well, I remember when I was ten years old I went to a kids camp. I should have said fifteen-year-old, went to a youth camp, and I believed, and I believe that Jesus is real, and I believe. That doesn't save you, people. That doesn't get you a resurrection any more than it gets the devil a resurrection.
What is the difference between you and the devil? Here's the difference: you are in Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 45:45
Point 4Believing is not enough; God puts you in Christ
It is not merely believing. God puts you in Christ. This is a gift that no man can boast of.
He put you in Christ. Read back to Romans before you go to small group this week. Go read Romans 6:1 through, where we're going, to 18.
Read it all. You mark and circle how many times it says we're baptized, united to Christ, we're in Christ. Look at that. That is the separating marker between us and the devil, that we are in Christ and he is not. That's it. That's your hope of resurrection.
We actually read it earlier: you are united with Christ, you are in Christ. Check this out, check this out, because here's the great, here's the great Scripture that's used talking about this.
Let's read it together, shall we? Ephesians 1:3–4 says this: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." Before you were born, he chose you in Christ. Before the earth was created, it's him that puts you in there, and the fact that you're in there because he puts you in there is what makes you different than Satan. It's his work. Even it says "as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be." Don't forget this, and here's the part that we're moving to in chapter 6. We've already done the first part of this: he chose you and put you in him before the foundation of the world. That's the first portion of chapter 6. Now the verse 11 that we're moving to, 14 and on, here's where it moves to that. Here's where we're getting to that part: "that we should be holy and blameless before him." That's the why. He puts you in Christ. In other words, we were elected into what? We were elected into holiness. We're elected into Christ. What was Christ? He lived a sinless life, perfectly holy. We were elected into Christ, or into holiness. If there is not holiness, you are not one of the elect. That's what the Bible says. So we get uncomfortable saying things like this, because we don't want to disenfranchise anybody in a culture that should accept everybody, and we don't want to disenfranchise anybody who has any particular sin, because we would rather be bedfellows to sin than make someone's feelings get hurt. But the Bible has no problem saying the truth. That's why we should preach more of the Bible and fewer stories about our lives. Let's read on, Ephesians 1:5–10. Let's keep reading.
I love it, and I'm almost done today. Let's read on: "In love he predestined us," there's something we like to say way far away from, "for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will," not his will and your will.
While we have free will and we choose, and we do this according to his will, he didn't even talk about your will. Why? Because he didn't come into account, "to the praise of his glorious grace." How can you praise his glorious grace if it's half your work and half his work? Because we would have to glorify you and him. Salvation is about him, a hundred percent. Being in Christ is about him, a hundred percent.
He is a jealous God. He doesn't want you to get partial credit. He gets all the credit.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:49
Only he does the work. It's his glorious grace. What makes it glorious? That you don't taint it with you.
"With which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose." Listen to me, listen to me, I'm tired of reading books about your purpose. I could care less. I could care less about your purpose if you're in him. It's all about his purpose.
Your purpose don't matter. His purpose matters.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 51:53
It's about him. This is not a story about you and him. This is a story about him "and his glorious grace, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time." For the fullness of time. So you think that you are going to make it about you at some point in your life, in the time? You're wrong. In the fullness of it's about him and his purposes. Listen: "to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." You are in Christ. You are united with Christ.
The closest picture, and I'm gonna close with this, and this is the uppercut, so listen to me, the closest picture we have to this union is marriage. As a matter of fact, we see this as we read on in Ephesians. He begins to use marriage as an example.
Here is what's interesting: when I die and they notify my next of kin, they do not notify the woman who bore me, who gave birth to me, who breastfed me, and who took care of me from the time of birth, pre-birth, time of birth, and after birth.
When they notify the next of kin, they will not call my mother. They will call my wife, because she is my next of kin.
How does that happen? How does that happen? The covenantal union that marriage mirrors, the church and Christ, is marriage. All that's mine is not my mother's.
That's who I was. All that's mine is who I'm in covenant with, and that's Brook. Are you with me? All that's Brook's is not her mother's.
All that's Brook's is mine. We are united. We are one.
The church is the bride and Christ is our groom, and we are the next of kin, united to him, changed by covenant. Who you once were, you are not any longer. Who you once depended on, you do not depend on.
Who you once ran to, what you once ran to, you no longer run to. We are Christ's by covenant.
One of the greatest troubles in the church today is that we have taken his blood and rejected his body.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 55:32
When we take communion, we take his blood and his body, but we really only want his blood, because if we take his body, then it begins to affect how we walk, how we talk, how we live. We created a gospel that allows us to be covered by his blood and reject the rest of him.
But those people who think they can do that are not one of God's elect, because the Scripture says those who got elected and put in Christ, he will begin and make holy.
That's it. I love the Old Testament story where it talks about Moses going to the people, and all the plagues come, and the very last plague, that seemed to be the deal breaker, the thing that really caused Pharaoh to let the people go, was he told them, the leader of each of the houses, to slay a lamb, to put the blood of the lamb over the door, the doorpost and lintel of the house, and to cook the lamb and eat the whole lamb.
We've talked about that before. We don't talk about that second part, but we preach sermon after sermon, and most of you might not even know about the second part, but you know about the blood and the doorpost and the lintel, because we will celebrate the blood on the doorpost to save ourselves, but we want to be saved without eating the tongue of the lamb, that we talk like him, and eating the heart of the lamb, that we emote like him, and eating the feet of the lamb, that we walk like him, and eat the guts of the lamb, that we have compassion like him. We want the blood, we want to be saved without being like him. That does not exist in Romans.
He is not a smorgasbord. He is not a charcuterie board. He is not a buffet line that you pick and choose what you please.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 57:44
If God chose you before the foundation of the world and puts you in here, in Christ, according to his will and for his purpose, you will not just be saved by the blood of the lamb, but you will be transformed and made holy, because he puts you in Christ. And that's what happens. That's what happens. So when you read 11 and on through 18 over the next couple weeks, you need to go back and you need to read it, and as it talks about walking according to the new man, do not treat that like a step. God does that.
God doesn't forget about all this. You won't walk in sin. It literally, here's what Paul is saying, if you look at the beginning of the chapter, you won't, sin won't rule over you, so walk without sin ruling over you. What we do is, although we read it in that order, we go, walk as if sin isn't reigning over you, so sin won't reign over you. We reject the promise and turn to striving, hoping that we'll get the promise that he said we should already have if we're in Christ Jesus.
It's crazy. Why do we keep struggling with this? Because we have control issues.
And if you only knew, if you only knew why we preach the gospel, because striving is what got us into this problem. Striving is what got us into this issue.
The gospel. You're like, so Shawn, how do we lead people to Christ? You don't. God puts them in Christ. Well, how does he do that? Through the preaching of the word. Men, come to me, listen to me now. So why is it important that you don't get justification and sanctification wrong?
Because you can be spending all your energy preaching a gospel that does not save, and your family won't come to Christ and your children won't come to Christ. Why? Because the way he does it is by the preaching. The power for salvation is in the gospel, and if the church can't get the gospel right, who will be saved?
This is not getting around and seeing, well, which opinion, which position do we want to hold? This is life or death, what we're talking about here, and not just temporal, forever. And you getting the gospel right is important. It's important. I've had people recently say to me, and I know this is my fifth closing and I'm really truly done, I'm really truly done, but I've had people sit in my house and say this to me: Shawn, if God does all the work, if it is God who does the work, if it is God who saves, if it is God who transforms entirely by himself without us, how are we going to evangelize?
By preaching that gospel. Well, but how will they ever make a decision and pray a prayer?
That's not what the Bible said. That's nowhere in the Bible. We preach the gospel and he captures hearts. And just in case you didn't know it's not dependent on you preaching the gospel, because God elected it from the beginning, before the foundation. He was here. He put people in Christ already. Don't get the gospel wrong. It may make you uncomfortable and you may not understand it, but his ways are higher than our ways. Let the gospel be the gospel and don't convolute it with your ideas. Are you with me? We've got to get this right. So as we move on in Romans, don't you dare miss the fact that every time he tells us to walk or put off the old man or do, every time that there's a command, he has already said you already will.
When he tells us to walk, he already says you, those who are in Christ, will walk according to my will. Now walk according to my will. It is always prefaced with you're going to, if you're in Christ. Now go do it. Always, the entire book of Romans. You're like, well, I'm going to catch him. No, you won't. It's in there. It's just that it's always prefaced with this is what's going to happen, now go do it. Okay, my sixth closing, and then I think this one will land for real. He gives you a new nature when you're in
Point 5A new nature bears fruit without striving
Christ. We talked about that in chapter 5. It's a new nature. If you were an apple tree and you became an orange tree, you have been given a new nature.
Now bear oranges. You used to bear apples, now bear oranges. Produce oranges. Have fruit that are oranges. You have been given a new nature. That orange tree does not have to think about what it's going to produce, and although God commanded that orange tree to bear oranges, it's going to do it by nature of what it is. It is no longer an apple tree, so guess what, it's not going to bear apples anymore. It's going to bear oranges. That tree doesn't have to try to strive to bear oranges. Its very nature makes it do that. Are you with me today?
That's the problem. We think we went from being an apple tree to an orange tree, and we're trying to bear oranges and we can't bear oranges, and we keep bearing apples, and we're like, oh Lord, how do I'm trying, I want to serve you, I want to do that. Listen, really at the end of the day, the Bible says, no, you haven't been given a new nature yet. That makes us uncomfortable, but that's what the Bible says.
You will bear what you are, and if you aren't bearing something, it's because you're not that.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:04:54
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